Saving Grace
by beckyofdownton
Summary: Exhausted from excessively long hours at the hospital, Sybil Crawley is in no mood to meet new people or to entertain the thought of entertaining. When Sybil meets Gwen one night completely by accident, things start to look a little brighter in Sybil's life. Modern AU. Rated M for the future.


"One more day of this hospital food and I swear they'll have to commit me." Erica said, spearing a particularly lumpy looking potato and scraping it off on her tray.

All Sybil could muster was a laugh. She could barely even taste food any more let alone be hungry for it. This was her tenth straight 14-hour day and she was about to break down.

"Come on, Sybil." Erica smiled, trying to cheer her friend up. "You're going to have to get used to this."

Sybil opened her mouth to retort angrily, caught herself, sighed and closed her eyes. She just hadn't been herself ever since she moved out of her parents' house.

"I'm aware." Sybil said, putting the lid back on her still-full tupperware of caesar salad. "It's just the first time I've ever-"

"Worked a day in your life?" Erica said playfully, raising an eyebrow.

"Well!" Sybil exclaimed, shoving her tupperware a little over-rough into her knapsack. "I'll have you know-"

"Sybil! I'm joking!" Erica laughed, putting a hand on Sybil's shoulder.

"Well, it wasn't funny." Sybil grumbled, glancing up at the clock. Only a couple hours left to go. Sybil stood up, shouldering her knapsack and giving Erica a brief, strained smile.

"Want to come 'round to my place tonight, Syb? A couple of us girls are having a girls' night. Cheap wine, movies and as much junk food as you can eat." Erica asked slightly desperately.

"Well, no, I don't think so." Sybil said, a corner of her mouth turning up apologetically.

"I saw you have the day off tomorrow." Erica persisted.

"I do." Sybil replied, re-tying her ponytail.

"Then come! I've got some friends staying with me from York. You'd like them." Erica smiled, momentarily abandoning her meat loaf.

Sybil swallowed hard. She had been planning on sleeping the night and the next day away with sporadic trips to the refrigerator. It wasn't charming or exciting in any way but it was what she thought she needed. Especially after this work week.

"I just... No. Thank you." Sybil smiled, nodding and turning to go.

"If you change your mind, Sybil, let me know. You've got my number, yes?" Erica called after her as she walked out of the cafeteria.

The very thought of sitting in a room full of the coworkers she saw every single day very nearly turned her stomach.

* * *

The last two hours of her shift were full of paperwork, coffee and brief check-ins with her patients. When finally the clock struck 8:00, Sybil leapt to her feet and headed off towards the locker room. Checking around corners before she went, she made sure that nobody would stop her on her way home. The last thing she needed was Erica trying to corner her into a tacky wine-and-cheese-

"Sybil!" somebody called from behind her right as she was turning down a corridor towards the locker room.

A deep breath and Sybil turned around to see Tom, one of the paramedics coming towards her. She knew it had been a mistake having her lunch with him a couple days ago. He just wouldn't leave her alone.

"Hi, Tom." Sybil said, forcing a smile onto her face. "My shift's just ended."

"Well, great! So has mine." Tom grinned, smoothing his russet blond hair over.

"I hope your day went well. Not too messy." Sybil said politely, stepping ever-so-slightly backwards towards the locker room.

"It did." Tom replied, unbuttoning the top of his black collared uniform. "I'm actually headed over to the pub with a couple of the other EMTs. Do you want to come?"

Sybil smiled. His proposal was sweet and she couldn't deny that he did look good in his uniform but if her night didn't involve drinking with nurses then it definitely didn't involve drinking with Tom Branson and his paramedic friends.

"I'm sorry, Tom. I've already turned Eric, one of the RNs, down for a girls' night. I would honestly feel dishonest turning them down and then taking you up on your, undeniably tempting, offer." Sybil replied with as much politeness as could be mustered.

"Well, whatever suits you, Sybil." Tom smiled, looking down at the ground. "But maybe I could get your number and I'll let you know when we're going again?"

_Sly_, Sybil smiled.

"Oh, sure." Sybil replied, taking a bit of paper from her bag, scrawling her number on it and handing it to him. "I'm going home now, though."

Sybil smiled, bade him good night and finally made it to the locker room.

* * *

The apartment was exactly as she had left it and when she walked in, dumped her clothes on the floor and collapsed onto her bed, she was asleep.

It was only the clumsy sound of keys fumbling in the door that woke her up around 3:30 in the morning. Getting up with a blanket from the bed, she moved slowly and quietly out into the hall. She could hear the person outside muttering and jingling their keys.

Grabbing an umbrella from next to the door, she stood to the other side of the door, shielded and unlocked the door.

"Oh, thank you!" a female voice exclaimed from the other side of the door, clearly drunk.

Raising an eyebrow, Sybil peered around the side of the door.

"Hello?" Sybil laughed. She had never seen this woman before in her life. She looked quite a mess and Sybil couldn't suppress a smile. She had been suspecting the worst and her brief nap seemed to have revived her compassion.

"Wha-" the woman said, squinting at Sybil in the light from the hallway. "What are you doing there?"

"I might ask you the same thing." Sybil said, yawning into her hand. It was awfully late.

"Well, I happen to live here. Not sure about you." she said, leaning against the door frame.

"Wrong apartment, I think. This is 334." Sybil smiled.

"Is it now?" the woman replied, shocked. She squinted up at the numbers on the door, pointed and laughed. "Well, this is embarrassing."

"More for you than for me, I'm afraid. I'm Sybil. Sybil Crawley." Sybil replied with full knowledge that this woman might not remember her come daybreak.

"I am Gwen. Gwen Dawson." Gwen replied, mimicking Sybil's introduction. "Well, I'm just going to pop over one to the... left and I will see you again never. Hopefully. Not that you're not a lovely... Well. Maybe I'll see you again. Good night."

Sybil smiled and watched Gwen stumble over to her apartment.

_Well, I guess I've met the neighbours,_ Sybil laughed, closing the door, locking it, and heading back to bed.


End file.
